aimswebPlus Early Reading Screener

Dear Parents and Guardians,

This letter shares information about how we will learn about your child’s reading skills. In Wisconsin, each child in grades 4K-3 will take an assessment called the aimswebPlus early reading screener. A screener is an assessment that quickly checks your child’s reading skills.

What skills will be tested?
The screener will check important literacy skills including alphabet knowledge, letter sound knowledge, phonemic awareness, decoding, and oral vocabulary. The skills are tested differently based on your child’s grade level. Please see the back of this letter for information about these skills and options to be assessed in languages other than English.

When will the reading screener take place?
The aimswebPlus early reading screener will take place 1-3 times per year. The screening schedule for the 2024-2025 school year is shown below:

  • K-3 Winter Window will occur between Jan. 7 – Jan. 31, 2025
  • PK-3 Spring Window will occur between March 31 – April 11, 2025

What information will parents/caregivers receive?
You will receive your child’s test results within 15 days after they take the reading screener. The school will give you a report sharing your child’s score. You will also receive a survey that invites you to share about your family’s experiences with reading and writing.

How will the information be used?
The information from the early reading screener is one way that your child’s teacher will learn about your child’s reading skills. However, the reading screener will not diagnose dyslexia or other disabilities. If your child’s score is below the 25th percentile, additional testing will follow in order to create a personalized reading plan to help your child meet grade-level goals.

How can I prepare my child for the early reading screener?
No special preparation for aimswebPlus reading screener is needed.  Just send your child to school as usual. The testing is quick and should not be a big event for your child.

If you have any questions or need more information about the early reading screener, please contact your child’s teacher or principal.

Thank you,

Wendy Tindall
Kenosha Unified School District
Chief Academic Officer

Early Reading Skills

2023 Wisconsin Act 20 requires that children are assessed in the early reading skills of alphabet knowledge, letter sound knowledge, phonemic awareness, and decoding. These skills are assessed differently depending on the student’s grade level. You can learn more about these important early reading skills below:

  • Alphabet knowledge: Knowing the names of printed letters.
  • Letter sound knowledge: Knowing the sounds of printed letters.
  • Phonemic awareness: Hearing , saying, and manipulating individual sounds in spoken words.
  • Decoding skills: Connecting sounds to written letters to read printed words.
  • Oral vocabulary: Understanding the meanings of words when speaking or listening.

aimswebPlus Early Reading Screening Assessments

The aimswebPlus reading screeners that measure the skills above are based on a student’s grade level. You can learn more about these assessments below:

  • Letter naming fluency (5K): Measures a student’s knowledge of upper-and lower-case letters. Your child will have one minute to say the names of visually presented upper-and lowercase letters that they know.
  • Letter word sounds fluency (4K-1st grade): Measures a student’s letter sound knowledge. Your child will have one minute to say the sounds of visually presented letters, syllables, and words that they know.
  • Initial sounds (4K-5K): Measures a student’s phonemic awareness. Your child will be provided a page with four pictures. Your child will be asked to either point to a picture of a word that matches the initial sound the teacher says or make the initial sound of a word spoken by the teacher. This assessment will take 2-3 minutes.
  • Phoneme segmentation (1st grade): Measures a student’s phonemic awareness. Your child will listen to a word that is spoken by the teacher and then say each sound they hear in the word. This assessment will take 2-3 minutes.
  • Auditory vocabulary (5K-1st grade): Measures a student’s knowledge of words commonly found in 5-year old Kindergarten and Grade 1 reading materials. Your child will match a picture to an orally presented word. This assessment will take 2-4 minutes.
  • Vocabulary (2nd- 3rd grade): Measures a student’s knowledge of the meanings of grade-appropriate words. Your child will choose the meaning of target words by selecting from multiple choice options. This is an untimed, computerized assessment that typically takes 4-7 minutes.
  • Oral reading fluency (1st-3rd grade): Measures a student’s decoding skills. Your child will read two stories aloud, each for one minute.